THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran has criticised blocking of two women in Sabarimala on Wednesday, saying that the act was mere goondaism.

“This is an uncivilised act and such things cannot be accepted. Blocking women who reach Sabarimala after observing vratham is a primitive culture and also illegal. The police exercised maximum restraint and they didn’t give the protestors any opportunity to create unruly scenes,” he said.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the LDF government for going against Kerala’s tradition, religion and spirituality, two women activists, sponsored by Facebook group “Navodhana Keralam Sabarimalayilekku’, made a failed attempt to trek Sabarimala for darshan. They were also accompanied by seven-member men from the group.

They were blocked by protestors after some of them identified the young women at Neelimala. Later they were forced down the hillock by the police.